High Notes 09-03-2015 - juxtaposition
Juxtaposition: That is, according to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition, the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side. Juxta is a Latin word meaning, “near”.
That word came to mind while I was considering the coincidence of Nora (Morrow) Netzer, living at 3207 Forrest Avenue, next door to Cara Dobbins, at 3213 Forrest; their front doors are face-to-face. I was reading Carolyn (Morrow) Hilliard, and Marilyn (Morrow) Schomberg’s, Morrow Family tree, and came across the two names Morrow/Robbins of Irish ancestry, having been connected way back in 1935 by marriage in Portsmouth, when a Joseph Morrow, Nora’s uncle, was wed to Alice Dobbins.
That is an ironic example of “juxtaposition”, I thought.
Then I began thinking about my own abode; I also live in the A-Bomb plant housing development build in the early fifties, Forrest Heights (FH).
My address is 2214 Bihlman, which runs perpendicular (west to east) with Forrest (south to north), and I am amazed at the “juxtapositions” so prevalent in this community. For example, Selma Gannon lives across from me, and her son, David’s long-time girlfriend, Jean Carver, lives on Forrest, next door to Cara Dobbins. Cora’s duplex apartment is in the same building with Christine (Multer) Sand, the widow of Danny Sand. Christine, Mike and Suzanne Williams, who also lives in FH, at North Taylor Court, all graduated PHS in 1956
Dave Gannon lived two-doors from me when I lived on the river, at Burt’s lane. We are long-time friends and fellow card players.
Suzanne Williams is the daughter of Earl and Thelma Shumate, (both deceased) the brother of Ron Shumate, and they, while I lived at 1227 McConnell, lived around the corner, at 1920 Vinton. Ron and I were at Highland Schooltogether in the forties, and were in the graduating class of PHS in 1957. Ron stole a package of his mother’s Viceroy cigarettes, and we shared them, clandestinely, in the restroom of the Mound Park Shelter House, located at the top of McConnell in 1949, when we were ten-years old. Ron, a retired college basketball coach, now lives in Tennessee.
Oh, and for more juxta…Harold “Gib” and Linda “Crosley” Witter, live across the street from Cora and Christine, at 3220 Bihlman. Gib graduated Notre Dame HS in 1956, and Linda graduated PHS in 1961. Their good friend, Creed Milstead, ND 1958, lives just up the street on North Forrest.
I was thinking about Suzanne and Mike, and remembered when we were in high school together, Mike drove his Dad’s 1950’s black Pontiac, and we both frequented the Park Shoppe, as did Creed and his brother, Jon. We all used to watch Cleveland Browns football, and drink Norge 3.2% beer on Sunday’s. Norge beer? That was usually Wiedemann’s, but we re-named it Norge after George Banchy converted that old Norge Refrigerator to accommodate his draft system. The Park Shoppe pork barbecue special, with fries, was truly special, and Banchy brought the Kilcoyne Cod fish sandwiches with him from his time at his previous bartender gig. Pizza too, was good!
Tokiko Rose Spencer, a former employee of the Big Bundle laundry, 2533 Scioto Trail, now lives at 1405 Bihlman. I bought the laundry in about 1972, and Rose, who worked for the previous owner, began again, after I bought the place. I eventually liquidated the equipment and rented the space before selling it after helping found “The Scioto Voice” with Doug Everman.
Rose had met her husband, an American, from Grayson, Kentucky, and they lived in Carter County. William and Betty Hart, were acquainted with Rose and her husband when they were stationed in Japan, while Mr. Hart was a career military man. After Roses’ husband died, the Hart’s invited Rose to become a member of their household.
Another juxta-coincidence is that the Hart’s red-headed oldest son, Bill, also graduated PHS in 1956, and we communicate via email.
"Medicine, law, business, engineering. They are noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." -Tom Schulman, screewriter
